NPR – “Children’s books seem simple, but good ones are deceptively complicated to write and illustrate. “Traditionally illustrated books are books where the text makes sense on its own. It doesn’t necessarily need words,” writer Martin Salisbury tells NPR’s Renee Montagne, whereas with picture books, neither the text nor the images stand separately — they need each other. Salisbury is the author of the new book Children’s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling. He says classic picture books, like Babar, may succeed because the simple visual style allows readers to project their own personalities and thoughts onto the character. “I guess it’s a combination of the extraordinary writing of Babar, the strange world that’s created, and those very simple faces that allow us to use our imagination,” he says.”